


luckiest man

by kateanderson



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-27 04:31:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13873179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kateanderson/pseuds/kateanderson
Summary: Scott (and Tessa) navigate the months following PyeongChang





	luckiest man

He loves her and he has been pretty sure she feels the same way, so it's a bit of a surprise when she turns to him on the short hop flight from Toronto to London and says, "I think maybe we should not see each other for the next week." At first he wasn't sure if he had heard her correctly but then she continues, "I just feel like we owe it to ourselves and our friends and family to be there for them 100%. They've been so supportive of us and we need to give that back."

He's tired. Nay, he's beyond exhausted and doesn't feel like arguing so he just sighs and says, "Whatever you want, Tess."

It wasn't that much different than what they usually do anyway, he reasons with himself. The past year she had disappeared to Paris with her mom for a week while he headed home and prepared himself to say goodbye to his grandfather and weakly accepted congratulations on their third world title, which she had earned but he wasn't entirely sure he had.

After facing the media for the second time in a span of a few hours and a boisterous crowd of well-wishers, he gives Tessa a brief hug. As he holds her, he feels her breathing sync with his and he thinks about how much he is really going to fucking miss her.

*

The celebrations are a bit tamer this time around. Partly because he isn't angry with the world and partly because he is thirty now and while Canada celebrated him as a drunk hockey icon, the truth couldn't have been further from that. He meets up with his buddies for a beer and a round of nachos at 5:00 in the afternoon because while they were all eager to get together "for old-time's sake" they also had to be home in time to help put the kids to bed.

Kids. God. By the time his parents were thirty, they had three kids. He has three Olympic gold medals, which is kind of the same thing, right? He had given up his social life and had to be home, tucked into bed by 8:30 because the alarm was going off at 4:30. His medals don't cry or throw up or need babysitting but he is still damn proud of them.

He's home by 8:00 and plops himself down in the living room of his childhood home. Dad is on the old desktop dinosaur of a computer, glasses halfway down his nose as he peruses the news. Mom is at the dining room table, scribbling out lesson plans for her upcoming spring skating school with her sisters. "Did you have a good time?" His dad looks over at him, pushes his glasses up his nose and waits for an answer.

"Yeah," he replies, picking at a loose piece of yarn on the afghan thrown over the back of the couch. "it was fun."

He feels thirteen again, even though he hadn't actually lived at home then. Like the last 20 years of his life hadn't happened and he was just a loser still living at home. "That's good." Joe says and then returns his attention to the news.

*

By the time he rumbles up to her driveway in his truck, he feels like he is seeing a stranger. The week has done her good - she looks well-rested and like the weight of the world has been lifted off her shoulders. He feels tired still, the weight of the future now resting heavily on him. He hops out to help her put her things into the back and stands awkwardly in front of her. Should he hug her or...? She puts her arm that isn't holding her purse around him and gives him a squeeze. "I missed you." she says and it sounds like she really means it.

He smiles briefly, gives her a squeeze in return and then begins piling her bags into the back of the truck. "You sure you got everything, T?" Her five bags are piled around his one. They have a week of media appearances lined up and knowing Tessa, she's probably also booked a minimum of three photo shoots and two gala events while there.

"Yes," she says, after some thought. "Did you remember to pack a nice suit?"

"A suit?" He has not. He was not aware of anything that required him to wear a suit.

He watches as a flicker of disappointment comes over Tessa's face. It was brief but he noticed it. "Never mind!" she says. "I thought I'd mentioned Wednesday night but it doesn't matter. You don't have to come. It's more for me anyway." She is looking at him with a too-bright smile now.

Tessa and her new sponsorship. He does remember. She'd texted him about about it earlier in the week but hadn't made it clear she was inviting him. That look of disappointment haunts him all the way to Toronto.

*

Their agent had put out a caveat for their media appearances that no one is allowed to ask about their relationship status. He appreciates it but, as he quickly realizes, it just means that they are asked indirectly about it instead. He is pretty much over it by the third interview and is ready to hulk smash the expensive camera equipment when, during the fourth, the host smiles slyly and asks, "So, Scott, do you have a ring picked out yet?"

No, he fucking doesn't because he is petrified by thought of both picking out a ring and asking Tessa to marry him. He can feel Tessa's cool and calm gaze on him as he chokes out an answer that gives away nothing and everything at the same time.

"I could just pick out a ring myself." Tessa says, a bit later. He is so taken aback that he spits out a sip of the fifth coffee of the day and then coughs for the next five minutes while Tessa looks very smug and pleased with herself.

On Wednesday, he sits on the bed, propped up with pillows and watches as Tessa flits around the room, getting herself ready. When she finally pauses beside the bed and asks him to zip her up, he does, peppering her skin with kisses as he slowly works the zipper up her back. He catches her hand before she can run away and pulls her around to face him. "I could run out now," he says. "and buy a suit." He still feels the tug of guilt in his chest.

She smiles and shakes her head. Her hand goes to his head and rakes through his hair. "It's okay." she says. "You'd have a terrible time anyway."

He would, it was true. But he would have a worse time thinking he'd let her down. "Have a fantastic time." he says and then stands up to walk her to the door. He ushers her out with a hand on the small of her back, pressing a brief kiss to her lips and then closes the door before she can begin to complain about him smudging her lipstick.

It's early morning before she returns. He wakes when he hears the door click open and then stifles a laugh when he hears a soft thud followed by a hissed oww because she refuses to turn on a light. He rolls over and flicks the switch for the bedside light. Tessa freezes like an animal in headlights. "Sorry," she says. "I was trying to not wake you."

"By walking into everything?"

She kicks off her heels and digs her toes into the soft carpet. "It was the shoes." she says. "My feet are killing me."

"Come here." Scott says, beckoning her to the bed. 

She complies and sits down, her back to him. He kneels behind her, running his hands across her shoulders, pressing his mouth to her neck before easing the zipper of her dress down her back.

*

Tessa's sister is free for dinner on Friday night and has made reservations at some horribly fancy restaurant downtown. Tessa clucks as she surveys his wardrobe choices. "Wear the dark jeans," she says. "and the black top, I guess." He doesn't dare ask if he can be excused from this outing.

Tessa holds his hand as they wind their way around the groups of people on the sidewalk, which is rather brave, all things considered. Their profile is still too high for his taste and he has visions of someone snapping a photo and uploading it to Instagram. Once they are seated in the restaurant, tucked away in a private booth at the back, he feels better. Jordan arrives a few minutes later and she and Tessa greet each other as though it has been months since they last saw each other.

If he was being honest, it freaks him out a bit how similar Jordan and Tessa are. They share the same facial features and dark hair and though Jordan is taller, he still has nightmares about the time he came up and hugged the wrong one from behind. "'Sup, Scotty." Jordan asks, giving his foot a nudge under the table. "You pick out that ring yet?"

Scott buries his face in his hands. It is going to be a long evening.

*

The celebrated return to Montreal. The prodigal kids returning home. As soon as he sets foot in the airport, he feels more at home and relaxed than he has the entire time he was in Ilderton, London or Toronto. They wait for their luggage and then summon an Uber to take them home. It feels odd, returning to the condo he has called home for the last almost two years. He looks at the couch, remembering the last time he sat there, stomach full of knots, thinking about what might happen at the Olympics and after. He puts his suitcases on the bed, changes into pj pants and a soft t-shirt and then pads down the hall to Tessa's door. He doesn't even have to knock before she opens it and lets him inside.

The atmosphere at the rink has changed. The gossip he has heard was that Gabi and Guillaume were not returning, instead choosing to remain in Europe with Romain and train for Worlds there. The remaining teams are jockeying for position, now that the top two have left. "Welcome to your future." Tessa whispers as they sit in the bleachers, watching Marie-France and Patch sort it all out.

He hopes to null the terrified look in his eyes before turning his gaze to her but he fails. The prospect of coaching is freaking him out. Almost as much as his looming engagement to Tessa is. He knows he has it in his blood though and he feels himself almost itching to leap over the bleachers and join the two of them now but it can wait.

After the competitive teams leave the ice, he laces up his skates with Tessa and they join Sam and Marie-France to begin choreographing new show programs. As his blades carve the ice, Tessa's hand securely tucked into his, he knows that in some way, he needs this for the rest of his life.

*

"Did we ever decide what we're doing once we're back after the tours?" Tessa asks from behind her rather large pile of crab legs. She wipes her hands on a napkin and then takes a large swig from her pint of beer while waiting for his answer.

"Decide about what?"

"Where we want to live and stuff." She cracks open another leg, letting out a small sigh of exasperation as crab juice shoots up and hits her in the face. She is adorable, he thinks.

"I thought we were living here." Scott replies. He will coach, she will go to school and take care of her business dealings. The thought of this plan changing makes his blood run cold.

"I meant, are we giving up the condos we have now and finding a new place?" Oh, thank god. That's what she meant. His face flushes as a flood of relief washes over him. He hadn't really thought about it too much. He figured she'd stay put and he'd eventually move all his stuff down the hall. He hadn't thought about getting a new place. "Maybe a bigger place," Tessa continues. "A bit closer to the university."

"Whatever you want, babe." He reaches for his beer and downs the rest. If she wants to be able to walk to class, he'd happily be stuck in traffic for hours. He doesn't care where he lives, as long as he gets to wake up next to her in the city they've adopted as home.

*

He's always found things easier to navigate while on tour. Conventions that exist at home can be erased for those precious few weeks, particularly if the tour took them outside of Canada. No one batted an eye that they shared a hotel room or that they often chose to exclude themselves from group activities, choosing instead to have dinner alone together or stay in and watch Japanese movies with subtitles.

"Do you ever feel really fuckin' old, T?" She is rubbing an entire tube of Voltaren into his shoulders and he feels her pause and can picture her shrug.

"Sometimes." She resumes rubbing his shoulders. "Pretty much only when I remember that I've known your ass for over twenty years now."

She'll be 29 next month but sometimes, he swears he still sees the little girl he held hands with so many years ago. "My ass is happy to know your ass." he says and with a quick movement, shrugs off her hands and flips her over onto the bed. She shrieks with laughter and then is silent as he covers her mouth with his. 

*

Partway through the cross-Canada tour and he can't stop thinking about that damn ring. It's partly because they're in Winnipeg and it's really weird for him to be back there. Like it was another lifetime ago that he sat with Kaitlyn and her mom in their small house and made plans for a possible life together. He bought a house, intent on it being for them and she began to talk to her team about a move to Ontario and then one day, he realized what a terrible mistake he had made and washed his hands of everything.

So yeah, being in Winnipeg feels strange and a bit awkward. He has seen Kaitlyn a few times since they had ended things and was happy that she had the chance at another gold medal but they haven't spoken. He knows from Tessa, who saw it on Instagram, that she is seeing someone and he feels bit insulted that she had sounded relieved when she said it. He wonders if maybe Kaitlyn is at home and has decided to come see the show. During intermission, before he and Tessa come out and shill their hearts out for Lindt, he peers into the seats but doesn't see her.

The rest of the tour passes uneventfully. After the show in Vancouver, there's champagne and hugs and more than a few tears. It feels like the end of an era even though chances are high that they'll all see each other during shows for at least the next couple of years. "Plus," Eric says, a bit too loudly. "There's always your guys' wedding."

Every head in the room snaps to their direction. They're looking at him and they're looking at Tessa and he swears that a few look at Tessa's hand. Where there is no ring. Because he's not entirely sure what he's waiting for. "Theoretical wedding." Scott says. "Ha ha."

*

The tour often ends on or around Tessa's birthday and this time, it is on her birthday. There is talk of going out dancing after but Tessa feigns exhaustion and he finds himself alone with her in their Vancouver hotel room with his head between her legs. He prides himself in his skills in that area and has boastfully promised her 29 orgasms until she tells him that she'd probably be dead at that point. "Fine then," he says. "Maybe three." He is working his way to number two and when she falls apart around him again, breathing his name into the quiet of the room, he vows to get working on the whole engagement thing.

They have a bit of time now before the next tour - which is back to Japan and he suggests that they remain on the west coast since it seems silly to fly home across the country, only to do the trip in reverse again a few days later. Patrick is eager to show them around his new stomping grounds and they accept the invitation and cram themselves and their luggage into the guest room of his tiny condo.

"How much did you pay for this?" Scott asks, after hitting his elbow on the wall for the hundredth time.

"I decline to answer on the grounds that it might make me sound insane." Patrick replies. "Dude, do you have any idea how expensive real estate is here?"

He does actually because he had freaked out for a brief moment that Tessa might actually want to move to Vancouver for school and he had looked at the price to buy and rent. It left him with heart palpitations. "You should come home, Chiddy. You can buy something at least twice this big there."

Patrick shakes his head. "Nah, I'm digging this west coast vibe. You know?"

Scott does know. Patrick has a girlfriend in the city and has begun to build a life for himself there. Much like he has done with Montreal. "Yeah," Scott replies. "I know."

*

It was a do-over of sorts, joining the Gold Medal Plates team once again for a trip. Scotland hadn't been his finest moment, though he had enjoyed quite a lot of very fine Scottish whiskey and he was eager to make this one better. It was many of the same people they'd first met in the highlands castle but the circumstances now could not be more different. In his suitcase he has a ring for her. One that he has painstakingly picked out and made sure was perfect, with the help of her mom, sister and at last count, five of her friends. Their friends now. Discussing the finer points of engagement rings bonded people for life. 

He is pleasantly buzzed on a warm French night and decides this is it. This is the night that he, Scott Moir, will finally ask Tessa Virtue to marry him. He floats back up to their room and unearths the ring from its hiding spot before dancing back down to find her bent over laughing at something Miku has said. He reaches for her hand and tugs her away from the party, apologizing to everyone and promising that he'll bring her back soon.

"What's up?" Tessa asks now that they are safely away from everyone.

He trembles and breathes in deep, wanting to commit everything - from the sights, to the sounds, to the smell - to memory. Then he steels himself and gets down on one knee. She is in tears before the first words can even leave his mouth and by the time he asks her, they are both sobbing. She chokes out a very watery "yes", he slips the ring onto her finger and then they hold each other until the tears are dried and he feels like skipping back to the party and screaming the news that Tessa had agreed to marry him.

"Real talk," Tessa says after she has regained her composure. "I was beginning to think you'd never ask." Then she lifts her hand and admires the ring. "Who helped you with this?"

He rattles off the laundry list of helpers and she laughs. Her mom is flying in a few days later to meet Tessa for a girls' trip to Provence. She pulls out her phone and fires off a text to both her mom and sister, thanking them for helping Scott. He just stands back and smiles when the phone rings and Tessa spends the next ten minutes chattering excitedly with Jordan about dress shopping.

*

He gets a bleary eyed call from Tessa in the middle of the night a few weeks later. She's still in France but he's home in Montreal. He wakes up in a panic to the sound of his phone ringing and it's her ringtone and he immediately thinks "oh my god she's been injured and her mom is calling me from her phone" and answers it rather breathlessly.

"Hi, Scott." It's Tessa and not her mom. He breathes a sigh of relief but then realizes she's still calling him when she knows he's home and it's the middle of the night.

"Tess," he says, his heart still pounding. "What's wrong?"

"Hold on," she says. "I'm going to switch to video."

He moves the phone from his ear and stares at the screen as it flickers to life, showing at first only a blur of movement and then Tessa's face and his breath hitches in his chest because it looks like she's been crying. "Tess," he says. "Talk to me, please."

Her face goes in and out of focus. "My mom said I should wait until I get home to tell you but I didn't want to wait." she says and then wipes at her eyes.

His mind is racing with a million different thoughts. She really is hurt. She's made a huge mistake and doesn't want to marry him after all. She's met someone and is staying in France. Then, everything freezes as Tessa moves the camera away from her face and focuses in on something. He squints and then he sees what it is. "Oh my god, Tess..."

The camera is back on her face again and she's crying. He feels tears sting his eyes as his mind reels. What she had shown him was a pregnancy test. With a positive result. "Are you okay?" she asks. He can feel her fear across the Atlantic and wishes he could wrap his arms around her, shush her and her assure her that he is okay. He is more than okay. He's ecstatic. He leaps up and whoops loudly. Tessa begins laughing. "I'll take that as a yes."

*

He picks her up at the airport a few days later and whirls her into a hug before setting her down and putting his hand reverently on her belly. "You're really okay with this?" Tessa asks a while later in the car. "Because you know this changes everything."

He is and he knows. He's already started looking at real estate ads for houses. "Trust me, T. I'm fine." He glances over at her and smiles. "I'm the luckiest man in the world."


End file.
